Closed, Cancelled, and God's Whisper

NCAA basketball tournaments, ACC mens basketball tournament, NBA, NHL, Major League baseball spring training, church worship services, concerts, public schools,  and private schools either closed or cancelled.  Grocery store shelves empty of essentials like bread, milk, and toilet paper.   Though I look out my window and see flora coming back to life after a winter slumber, the cancellations and closures are like there is a blanket of snow 5 feet deep.  It is March, and there is a new kind of “March madness” that has nothing to do with basketball games but everything to do with public health and well-being.   Though I have lived many decades, I don’t believe I have seen anything quite like what I have seen in the last few days.    There is an air of uncertainty about the health of people and the financial vitality of our nation as the stock market  soars downward.    

 

Amid it all, God has whispered a message to me and it is this:  what is certain is not sports or the bullishness of the stock market.  What we can count on is not that the church doors will always be open or that your team will compete in the March madness games.   What we can count on and what is certain is the presence, power, and peace of the One who said long ago to his disciples (including some who doubted):  “Surely I am with you always, even to the close of the age”  (see Matthew 28: 20).      As a dying John Wesley said on his death bed:  “The best of all is this:  God is with us.”  -     Pastor Randy Wall

Having the Right Tools

It was 3 pm and I was hungry.  My breakfast was a distant memory and I had not had lunch, so I drove my truck into the McDonalds parking lot for a double cheeseburger, a hot fudge sundae, and an iced tea.  After I ate  my double cheeseburger, I prepared to eat the sundae only to discover that the clerk had given me a knife and fork to eat with and not a spoon.  So, there I was with a sundae to eat and not the right equipment to eat it. 

Any task is easier to accomplish if you have the right equipment.   It is also important that we have the right tools and equipment for our spiritual life.  In Ephesians 6: 11-18, we hear the apostle Paul speak about the tools or equipment have:  

11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.  Truth….righteousness…faith…the word of God…salvation…and prayer.  Those are important tools for us to use as disciples of Christ Jesus.  They are at our disposal.  Are you using them?

 

PRAYER

O God,  I thank you for the many tools and gifts you give us to grow in our love for you and our service to others.  Help to use them; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Writing Your Own Obituary

A couple of months ago, I listened to the audio book, Capital Gaines, written by Chip Gaines, who is featured in the HGTV show, Fixer Upper, along with his wife, Joanna Gaines.   Ann and I visited their Magnolia Farms business when we were in Texas in late 2018.  Near the end of the book, Chip shares two versions of what his obituary notice might be.  This got me to thinking about what my obituary might say.   While I have known some people through the years who have written their own obituary, I am not among them.

It is certain that not all of us will be the host of a television show or write a book like Chip Gaines.  However, all of us write our own obituary by the way we live and we way that we treat others each and every day.  

I remember reading the book Sources of Strength by former President Jimmy Carter several years ago.    As perhaps you know, President Carter teaches Sunday School regularly as his church in his hometown of Plains,  Georgia.   President Carter tells the story about going to the funeral years ago for Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., father of the slain civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner.    As one pastor spoke, President Carter remembers that the pastor spoke about the power of the hyphen.   He noted that on most tombstones there is noted the date that the person was born and the date that the person died.  The pastor continued saying between the date of birth and the date of death is a hyphen and that the choices each of us make every day determines what can be said about the time between our birth and death.     What choices will we make today and this week about what could be written in our obituary?   Have a joy-filled week!.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    Almighty God, help me  live this day and in this life  in a way that is pleasing your sight and brings glory and honor to your name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.  

Lent Begins

This week, Christians across the world  begin the season of Lent.  We call the first day of Lent “Ash Wednesday” because at worship on that day at our church and for  centuries the foreheads of Christians are marked with ashes.  Lent is a season that reminds me of who I am-  a sinner.  In the Old Testament, ashes were a common symbol of penitence for persons.  You and I need to wear ashes as a reminder that we are sinners.  Time after time, we fail to love God with our whole being and our neighbors as ourselves. 

            Lent is not only a time to remind us who we are, but also a time to remember who we are called to be by the one called Jesus the Christ who exclaimed, “rise, take up your cross, and follow me.”     We are called to follow the way of Jesus, who walked the way of a cross.  By the grace of God that was won for us on the cross of Christ, we answer the call of Christ Jesus to follow and be His disciples. 

           

PRAYER

            Almighty God, I confess that I am a sinner in need of your grace.  Forgive me who I have been, and empower me by your Spirit to be the disciple of Jesus Christ you have called me to be;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

A Child's Song and Prayer

God our Father, God our Father,

We thank you,  We thank you,

For your many blessings, For your many blessings.

Amen, Amen.

A few days after Christmas, I spent a few days with my daughter, Heather, and her family in Texas.   It was so good to be with all of them especially with her 3 children.   When we sat down for dinner,  3 year old Ezra sang the words of the song found above as the blessing for our meal.  Like most 3 year olds, Ezra cannot count to 100 nor can he write a sentence.  However, he could sing that song with joy and zest.   It touched my heart not just because he is my grandchild, but it reminded me that one of the most important things that any of us can learn is to be  grateful for the blessings that God  gives to all of us each day.  Ezra knows that and I am grateful for the reminder that he gave his “Pop Pop” that day.     I am reminded of the words that the pastor declares when we prepare to share the Lords Supper:  “It is right that we should always and everywhere give you thanks and praise.”     Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    O God, forgive us for the times we are slow to acknowledge the blessings that are ours with each day.   Give us hearts that overflow with gratitude;  through Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.  

Team of Rivals?

 When you get right down to it,  everyday is the birthday of someone.   February 12  is the birthday of a person important in my life:  my grandson, Thomas.  Happy birthday, Thomas.  I am so glad to call you my grandson!     It  is also the birthday of someone important in the life of American history:  the 16^th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

     

 In her book, Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin reminds us that 3 members of the cabinet of Abraham Lincoln ran against Lincoln for President of the United States  in 1860:  Secretary of State William Henry Seward, Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase, and Attorney General Edward Bates.   Despite the fact that these 3 men were former rivals, Lincoln chose to have them as a part of his cabinet.    Another interesting thing about the Cabinet of President Lincoln was that Seward, Chase, and Bates were also the only members of the Republican Party in his Cabinet.

Perhaps the leaders of our community, state, nation, and church would do well to study and learn from Lincoln about the importance of working together.   As the motto of the great state of Kentucky says,  ‘United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”      Jesus puts it this way in Luke 11:17,  “ ¹⁷ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. “  Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

 

Prayer:    O God, you have made each of us unique and different.  Yet, you have also made us more alike than different.    Give us grace to work across our differences for the betterment of our world and of your Kingdom;   through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Winter Snow, Winter Slow

 The word “snow” gets our attention in the area where I live.    Schools close and organizations change their plans simply at the mention of the word.    Grocery stores run out of milk and bread as consumers prepare for the worst.

  

As I looked at the word “snow”  today, I noticed something about the word I had never noticed before.  If you take out the “n” in the word “snow” and replace it with a “L” it makes a new word:  “slow”.    Snow does slow us down and I am not just talking about our speed on the roads.  It slows down business and the day to day bustle we are all engaged in. 

There was a song that country music group Alabama sang a few years ago that has these words in its chorus:  "I’m in a hurry to get things done/  Oh I rush and rush till life’s no fun/ All I really got to do is live and die/  But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”      That chorus sums up life for many of us including this pastor.    I seem to stay in a hurry.  But then snow comes, and I slow.  I don’t know what you think, but I think that I need that every now and then.

It is not just my opinion that we need to slow down every now and then.  No,  it is God’s opinion too.  In Psalm 46:10, we read,  these words, 

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:    Slow us down, Lord, to more fully feel the stirrings of your Spirit within us and around us;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.